Participation in Erasmus+ projects appears to us to be an excellent tool for the strategy of promoting social inclusion and equal opportunities, mirrored in the EPSM educational project. At the same time, the aim was to increase young people's awareness of the importance of completing their training processes, providing Erasmus mobility experiences, where they could feel and observe all the diversity of professional opportunities that the European space offers. The aim was also to have an impact on a set of indicators to be improved, such as attendance, academic success, employability of students in their area of training and stakeholder satisfaction. The adoption of innovative and environmentally sustainable measures, reducing the ecological footprint is also one of EPSM's ambitions. To this end, it is important to provide employees with enriching learning experiences and opportunities to observe “on the job” what their European counterparts do, so that we can replicate or design innovative proposals in terms of education and sustainability, adapted to our reality.
The Instituto de Educação e Formação do Sorraia (IEFS), owner entity of the Professional School of Salvaterra de Magos (EPSM), dedicates itself mainly to the Vocational Education and Training, providing several different professional courses. The main educational activity, in which we develop our Erasmus+ internationalization project, are the professional courses, for youngsters with Level II qualifications who wish to obtain a Level IV Qualification Level Certificate and a secondary studies diploma. EPSM is located in a region where the primary sector prevails, with the majority of students belonging to households with low economic resources, which, not infrequently, leads to many of these young people having never left the region, revealing a great lack of knowledge about Portugal and the EU. Therefore, EPSM's strategy involves providing students from various professional areas with the possibility of participating in international projects, contacting their peers from other countries and contexts. Furthermore, contacts with other cultures are reinforced, the development of a European mentality, the improvement of educational practices and the strengthening of the institution's competitiveness.